{"id":545,"date":"2012-12-28T08:53:22","date_gmt":"2012-12-28T13:53:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.wabash.edu\/studying-abroad\/?p=545"},"modified":"2012-12-28T08:53:22","modified_gmt":"2012-12-28T13:53:22","slug":"turnbeaugh-14-oxford-best-for-studying-creative-writing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/studyingabroad\/2012\/12\/28\/turnbeaugh-14-oxford-best-for-studying-creative-writing\/","title":{"rendered":"Turnbeaugh ’14: Oxford Best for Studying Creative Writing"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Chet Turnbeaugh ’14<\/em> – There are few better places in the world to study Creative Writing and Analytic Philosophy than the University of Oxford. Simply strolling down the High Street is enough to fill one with a renewed sense of wonder and inspiration.\u00a0 When in Oxford, it seems like anything is possible.\u00a0 If London is the world in a city, then Oxford is the world in a school.\u00a0 Consisting of 38 unique colleges, the University becomes eclectically broken into a congregate of Hogwartsian <\/em>type institutions, each with their own cozy personality. My college suited me well, St. Catherine\u2019s College.\u00a0 Built in the 1960\u2019s, it is highly modern looking and considered by some to be an abysmal architectural failure. Still, some optimists, myself included, hold that the yellow walls of St. Catherine\u2019s dining hall and the Americanesque dormitories help give Oxford fresh form.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Sometimes in life you need a castle\u2014most of Oxford\u2019s colleges look like castles. I, on the other hand, needed a chance to get away and get a fresh perspective on my life, my goals, and the reality of what is doable in this lifetime, and where some of my dreams will have to be cut short. The chance to sit and talk with leading researchers, PhD students, and other intellectual eccentrics was absolutely fascinating.\u00a0 Half the time I expected either Lewis Carrol\u2019s Alice,<\/em> or Tolkien\u2019s Frodo, <\/em>to pop out from behind the dreamy sandstone spires and strike up a conversation with me.\u00a0 While very magical, nothing of the sort occurred during my stay in England. I did get a chance to meet new friends, eat pounds and pounds worth of traditional English dish, enjoy snapping my fingers to jazz on George Street, and discuss poetry at St. Catherine\u2019s.<\/p>\n

After term concluded, I was able to travel to Paris, Barcelona, Rome, and Glastonbury, England. \u00a0Prior to studying abroad, my worldview was small and my self-view was stuck in the way of me seeing the bigger picture.\u00a0 Standing atop a stone tower in Barcelona, overlooking the entire city, a mesmerizing light drew my eye.\u00a0 Hundreds of meters above us was another, even larger hill, with a magnificent church perched like a twinkling star on top.\u00a0 At the top of every mountain lies a higher peak somewhere beyond in the distance. Now, with my world a bit bigger, and my self a bit lighter, I\u2019m ready for the next peak.<\/p>\n

I had many conceptions of what I would do and whom I would be<\/em> when I got to Oxford, but after being there for a while I realized that there is no right way to be an Oxford man, so long as he is his own man.\u00a0 I recall having a similar realization about what it means to be a Wabash man early in my freshman year; this Wabash spirit has never left me. Being on my own was an experience that I have always wanted, but never been able to have until now. I am truly grateful to have been given this brilliant opportunity!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chet Turnbeaugh ’14 – There are few better places in the world to study Creative Writing and Analytic Philosophy than the University of Oxford. Simply strolling down the High Street is enough […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-545","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-study-abroad"],"w_featured_image_url":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/studyingabroad\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2012\/12\/chet300.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/studyingabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/studyingabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/studyingabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/studyingabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/studyingabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=545"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/studyingabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/studyingabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=545"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/studyingabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=545"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/studyingabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=545"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}